Armenia was the second country in the world to create and launch an e-visa program (Australia was the first). The demand for Armenian visa requests increases each year – during 2004, visitors from over 90 different countries traveled to Armenia – however, it has not been possible to correspondingly increase the number of Armenian missions issuing visas.

An initial solution of issuing visas upon arrival at the Yerevan International Airport was introduced. While it is a more convenient option for some, visitors sometimes end up queuing for more than an hour to obtain the airport arrival visa, with no prior guarantee that the visa will indeed be issued.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs then designed and developed a paperless online visa application process. An e-Visa is equivalent to a conventional visa, but no paper is inserted in your passport and there is no need for you to visit an Armenian diplomatic mission to submit an application.

Applications for e-Visas can be submitted online, verified online, and the reference number will be assigned to enable individuals to check the status of their applications. In most cases, e-visas will be approved and issued online within two business days.

Visa number and other particulars are given and will be served as the paperless entry visa. Border guards can verify the existence of the e-visa by crosschecking the arriving visitor’s passport number.

The e-visa process was designed to be implemented in phases. During the first phase only a single entry short-term tourist visa (good for a 21-day visit) and only international visitors traveling by air arriving through Yerevan International Airport were eligible to use an e-visa. Subsequent phasing in of the program will include acceptance of e-visas at land borders (for Georgia and Iran), allowing different flavors of e-visas (diplomatic, multiple entry, transit, etc.), and creating applications for student and business visas.

The e-visa procedure for Armenia does not replace other existing options for obtaining visas, either from an Armenian Consulate or at the Yerevan International Airport upon arrival.

Impact:

Although the e-visa is currently the most expensive option (60 USD, compared with an average price of 50 USD for visas obtained at a consulate, and 30 USD for airport arrival visas), the number of people opting for the e-visa is growing.

This is testimony to the fact that people estimate their overall e-visa transaction costs to be lower regardless of the higher one-time payment. For visitors residing in a city or country where there is no Armenian Consulate, the savings are significant with regard to travel time and costs of postal/courier charges back and forth. The latter option is also fraught with the danger of passport loss.

The government’s benefits are also significant. Having one or two staff assigned to administering e-visa applications within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is no doubt less costly than the resources corresponding to the same efforts of several dozen consular or diplomatic agents living and working in a foreign country.